Who’s to blame for continued metal detecting bans on public lands?

As the independent detector shop dwindles in the era of e-commerce, we have lost a critical link in the education of hobbyists on the ethical use of detectors. They used to be the front-line: Getting permission, filling holes, writing your congressman… these were all responsibilities of our hobby – and you were taught in many cases that the community needs you to be active in order to keep hunting grounds open.

But now, the responsibility has shifted to us, the detecting community, to earn access and build trust and educate our new members. We must teach not only how to use the machines, but how to become part a unified effort to earn the public trust/respect for our hobby. We should shame those who violate the rules and cheer those who use the hobby to make the world a better place. Every ring find, every trash cleanup, and every site discovery should have a press release and stories all over the world. As it stands, you can search Google news and find a few stories a MONTH about our hobby. A MONTH!

It’s all to easy to group together the destructive pot-hunter as the typical detectorist, and because we’ve not taken the time to develop our own PR story or to develop productive relationships with these folks, the assumption of our intent and attitude is what is used during discussions. The most visible evidence right now may be the reality shows…Rick Savage and company, for example, are doing grave damage as well, not just in their digging techniques and lack of site data collection, but in the profiteering and posturing. They are “de-hobbyfing” the hobby by making it smell like a scam.

I strongly feel that detectorists need to extend the hand of cooperation to the archaeological and historical interest groups. There are many ways to work together, and such activities could begin to change the way they portray us. It’s hard to call someone a pot-hunter when they’ve just spent their weekend helping you!

It is extremely difficult to get people to get involved. Most people who metal detect in my area just want to be left alone. It’s the nature of the hobby I think and it attracts the kind of person who doesn’t want to make a big fuss.

But as you say, a big fuss is what we need. I wrote letters to the legislators in Florida even though I live in Kansas but that’s not enough. I can think of at least two of my friends who may join in the fight. I will make sure they come here and read this post.

Good work!

pocketspillJuly 5, 2012 /

The PR effort needs to be centralized and worked out. It cannot be fragmented. The message we send to politicians and others needs to have a consistent, well-considered tone. Metal detector hobbyists should get *behind* this effort and adopt the proven messaging and instructions on how to make a difference. There needs to be checklists – “How to tell your congressman about metal detecting” or “how to influence a vote on metal detecting rights” … I think people will use these checklists if they are available. Because the individual detector users on their own are often inarticulate and emotional – and in the end unconvincing to the lawmakers.

raymond salmonsJuly 5, 2012 /

the metal detecting hobby is threatened daily by well meaning, but ill informed people who believe that we should save history by not digging it up and saving it for the future, instead of saving it by recovery and preservation. it is a shame that so much history is being lost forever because of some beaurocrats in government don’t see the big picture! the national rifle association has done wonders for their members and i think it is time for metal detector users to do the same. the task force for metal detecting rights foundation should be on every ones favorites list that enjoys the detecting hobby.

pocketspillJuly 5, 2012 /

The NRA is a good example, however they have as their foundation the 2nd Amendment. Detector users do not have that kind of anchor. It’s also hard to argue that the items are being lost forever when 2000-year-old silver coins are regularly unearthed in Europe. The task force is a good start, but fledgling at best.

I wonder if a better argument is that the preservation/archaeology approach ends up pushing items into dusty drawers in university basements without the public ever getting a good look. Detector users tend to show things off, or they should. Whenever I show something old to someone, it’s obvious that it’s the first time they’ve seen such. This means that the public good is served by having amateurs passing around artifacts. It’s just that we need to determine a good way to record context and help with recordkeeping so the historical record won’t have gaps.

Lastly, it is not enough for detectorists to get active – we also need the general public to chime in. The average Joe/Jane needs to recognize the value of amateur archaeology and detecting and get behind us. There are thousands of them for every one of us.